That is astonishing. I know sand, too. Very familiar with the medium. Best I can do is drip castles, with my hands as a funnel. Pyramids, obelisks, arched windows with walls and towers above them. Not a problem, but this? I find it hard to believe it’s real, and just sand and water.

In our valley, there are “packs” of young people, mostly young men, who walk through the streets in an elaborate drama: Saint Nicholas (dressed as a bishop, with miter hat and bishop’s staff), his sidekick “Schmutzli” (coal-dust covered guy who traditionally punished the bad kids with stern warnings and/or a smack on the backside), and “Esel” (“donkey” – a guy with funny donkey ears who assists Saint Nicholas. Following them are three groups of people: Geisläklopfer (whip-crackers), Iffälä (bearers of giant, candle-powered lanterns), and Trichlä (men – definitely not women! – who carry two ENORMOUS, heavy cowbells on a yoke) – when they clang the noise can be heard for miles.

We are so happy to see this tradition coming back – with lots of young people involved. The “packs” can be heard coming long before you see them. It brings everyone to the windows and doors, and the “pack” will stop and Saint Nicholas, Schmutzli, and Esel will gladly greet your child (and adults like me who instantly become a child again when I see this fearful trio approach) and admonish you to be good!

Before we became Catholic my boyfriend(who was soon to be my husband) and I eloped and got married on the Feast of St. Nicholas day. We picked the date because of St. Nicholas and his kind heart. Our secular marriage was performed by a Jewish lawyer, I believe to this day he still prays for us 🙂 .

Good to see you Mike 🙂 ! Did you celebrate Thanksgiving way across the pond with a feast?

So kids in the US leave Santa a glass of milk and cookies…in Switzerland they leave a…samich? If so I presume they’d accompany it with a mas of Samichlaus Bier? Best stuff going, supposedly the strongest bier brewed only on December 6th and aged for about 10 months. Too bad, can’t find it here, seems to be all consumed over there. If you like beer try and round one up.

It’s a very limited brew, made at the Schloss Eggenberg Braueri in Austria. You should be able to find it if you have (I have no doubt you have) a beer shop that specializes in quality beers.
Closest possible purchase point to me is about 350 miles away – and I’m considering making the drive.

Just fill a mas (handled vessel preferred so no heat’s transferred to the glass) and sit back and sip it. It’s one of those beers I prefer to drink without food as it’s sweetness and aroma are, to me, enjoyed unaccompanied.

Just checked. No longer brewed at the Feldschlossen brewery — exclusively brewed in Austria, but the they kept the Swiss name for Saint Nicholas (Samichlaus). I am also going to check the Landi (agricultural stores — mostly tools and garden/farm stuff, but also locally produced foods and lots of beer).

Thought that’s what I said, maybe I wasn’t clear. Hurlimann (say that with a Schwarzenegger accent) used to brew it until they were bought out by Feldschlossen. Feldschlossen killed it as a niche beer until the world complained so they farmed the brewing out to Schloss Eggenberg who continues the tradition.
If you’ve ever had Sam Adams Triple Bock the Samichlaus makes it taste like tap water.

Good morning, Nyet! A nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and that little sprig of parsley will be perfect after my dip here…
…though the water does look rather fetid. Yes, I’m in Bath, England…
…and an aerial view from this morning’s helicopter ride is rather spectacular…

Nigel is the bad guy here. So is the dad. Everything about this cartoon is true.

It’s so sad to watch the UK die. I watched my dad’s brother die in the hospital, with four other people, after we pulled the plug. This is like that. My uncle breathing his last breath, England doing the same. I had to be there, though. He was my best friend. Same for the other four people in the room. The nurse was his daughter. His death was cancer, all over the place.

Sorry, England. Sorry to see you die. It’s like watching my uncle die.

I really liked Monty Python. And Benny Hill. And Shakespeare. And Douglas Adams.

Now England is in a hospital bed, like my uncle was. And is dying like that kid in E.T…

What did you do, England? Why did you do it?

Imagine twisting a faucet, and releasing Niagara Falls. That’s what the West just did.

That’s why half of my birth family left England in the late 40s, they saw it starting to implode after the war. It’s taken England a long time to unwind, it had a lot of momentum, but that same anti-nationalism malaise that the Allies foisted off on Germany splashed back on England and now its busily committing cultural suicide.

Just when I think President Trump cannot outdo himself with trolling the Left he moves the bar yet again.

Standing ovation President Trump, standing O!

Without the phony Russia Witch Hunt, and with all that we have accomplished in the last almost two years (Tax & Regulation Cuts, Judge’s, Military, Vets, etc.) my approval rating would be at 75% rather than the 50% just reported by Rasmussen. It’s called Presidential Harassment!

I’m going really small this Christmas. My middle daughter won’t be there for the first time so I already gave her and her boyfriend their gifts. Two sets of very nice chopsticks and a plant in a little bowl from Japan. Everyone in my family has enough “stuff”.

The best still I can find of the demonic Hillary Clinton and her hateful look at Melania. Then there is Jimmy (enabler of all of every ghoulish dictator) Carter who must still have pretty good eyesight given the way he is smiling at our beautiful First Lady.

Carter was an inadequate President and he’s been and still is on the wrong side of many issues. However, he entered the White House with the money he made as an entrepreneur and basically left the same way. He continues to live in the less than $200,000 house he’s occupied for maybe 50 years, unlike the miscreant Obys and Hill-Bill.

Our Heavenly Father, Your children come to you tonight to ask for healing and peace throughout our country so that we may return to being One Nation Under God. Guide us to be leaders in Your Kingdom, spreading Your Love and Salvation to all. Forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil.

Lord, we ask for a blanket of protection over all our troops and law enforcement who serve to defend and protect us. Bless our representatives with the strength and wisdom they need to achieve the path You have chosen for us.

Please place Your Guardian Angels of Protection around Donald Trump and Mike Pence and their families as they seek to lead America back to You.

Grant us patience, Lord, as the evil ones try to anger us and cause us to fall.
Spread blessings over Israel and Netanyahu.

We humbly ask that You please comfort those who are grieving and in pain.
Thank you Father, for Your Love and the gift of Life.

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/kavanaugh-v.-ford
“After watching her husband rip into pro-death senators who used Dr. Christine Blasey Ford in attempts to derail the appointment of her husband to the U.S. Supreme Court, Ashley is asking all people of faith to unite in praying Psalm 40, which reads:”

“BE PLEASED, O LORD, TO DELIVER ME, LOOK DOWN, O LORD TO HELP ME. LET THEM BE CONFOUNDED AND ASHAMED TOGETHER, THAT SEEK AFTER MY SOUL TO TAKE IT AWAY. LET THEM BE TURNED BACKWARD AND BE ASHAMED THAT DESIRE EVILS TO ME.”